This was what I’d missed. What I’d grown envious of to the point of wanting to fuck shit up over.
Our parties.
Knowing the lads had started them back up without me had hurt, I couldn’t deny that. But tonight, it was all about my comeback. This was what I’d been waiting for and I might sound conceited, but I couldn’t give a fuck. It was what the people wanted too.
I hadn’t expected to see Emily chipping in to help set things up, but she did. The girl swept the floor in the main area of the waterworks like she was preparing for a visit from the queen. I kind of felt sorry for the broom with how hard she was working it. I guess she was trying to distract herself from her Dad’s trial. It was into its second week and the publicity on that thing was brutal. The press was dragging her dad, Alec Winters, name through the mud, and Emily’s too. But Ryan was doing a good job of taking her mind off it. Ryan, and the broom she was currently abusing.
“I think you missed a spot,” I said, tutting and pointing to the part of the floor she’d swept for the twenty-fifth time.
She stopped and wiped the sweat from her brow and blew her hair out of her face.
“Don’t you have a bag you should be punching somewhere? Or a person? Maybe you could practise on yourself?”
I threw my head back and laughed.
“Nice to see you still have some fight left inside you. I missed sparring with you, Winters.” I held my fists up and punched the air and she huffed out a laugh.
“I missed it too. I like giving my brain a workout, thinking up new ways to insult you.”
“I like a woman with brains.” I shrugged.
“You like a woman if she’s breathing. Brains doesn’t even come into it.”
I faked a shocked look and went to give her a cheeky response, but Ryan cut me off.
“I’ve just got another text.”
I turned and watched Zak and Finn walk towards us, getting their mobile phones out of their pockets.
“Yeah, me too.” Zak sighed and rubbed his hand over his face in exasperation.
“I changed my mobile number three days ago and they’re still texting me? Why?” Finn asked, sounding exhausted. I think the paint fumes were getting to him. He needed to take a break from his Effy masterpiece.
“Because, like it says, we need to pay for what we did,” Ryan said, then turned to look at Emily. “I’m sorry to say it, babe, but your dad is in on this. I just know it.”
“Did you get a text?” Emily asked, spinning round to face me. All four of them pinned me with an expectant stare.
I took my mobile out of my back pocket and tapped the screen, but there was no message. I knew it’d look suspicious, but I wasn’t about to hide the truth from them. Not anymore. I’d had enough of hiding.
“Nope. I got nothing.” I held my phone up as if to show them, not that they could see anything from where they stood.
“Why are they texting you three and not Brandon?” Emily was asking the million dollar question that was on all of their minds.
“Because whoever is sending these texts thinks Brandon is innocent?” Finn offered, looking hopeful and giving a shrug. I liked his optimism.
“Or they don’t know he was involved?” Zak replied, and Ryan groaned at both of their lame responses.
“Or our friend here knows more than he’s letting on.” Trust Ryan to go straight for the jugular.
“What are you trying to say, mate? You think I sent those? You think I don’t have anything better to do than send shitty texts to my best friends. Fuck that and fuck you if you don’t believe me.”
I didn’t have time for this shit. Our energies would be better spent on trying to figure out who was sending them. That, and my awesome comeback fight.
“I believe you,” Emily stated firmly. “Ryan, I think you do too,” she said, giving him the side-eye. I guess he didn’t like the prospect of sleeping on the couch as he shrugged and nodded in agreement.
“Zak, haven’t you been able to get a breakthrough on it? Come on. Tech is your thing, man. If anyone can find out who’s sending them, it’s you,” I added, taking the heat off me for a while. “Or maybe you don’t want to say anything ‘cos you know who it is already and you’re protecting them.”
Zak bustled forward like he was going to teach me a lesson, but Ryan stepped in his way and tried to calm him down.
“Zak’s tried,” Ryan said, looking between the two of us. “We don’t know. Do you think we’d be standing here wasting time if we did?”
“Maybe you should let Kian take a look. I know he’s got a mouth the size of the Blackwall Tunnel, but he knows his stuff.”
I knew Kian had skills. He’d tapped into Harper’s internet fast enough. Maybe he could help out here too.
“A fresh pair of eyes might help,” Emily replied, looking ever hopeful.
“Maybe. But for now, we keep this between us. The less people that know, the better. We watch our backs, and we watch each other. If someone’s out to get us, they’ll have to go against all of us.” Ryan folded his arms over his chest and stood tall.
“Damn fucking right,” I replied, lifting my chin to show them that I was right there with them. You hurt one of us, you hurt us all, and that included Emily.
Five hours later, and the grey empty space we’d been stood in before was transformed into the hottest event within a thirty-mile radius. Zak’s strobe lights and thumping bass made the atmosphere electric. The people were packed in; wall to wall bodies that were dancing, drinking, smoking, and living life the way they wanted to live it. That was the fucking point of all this, after all. We were giving our two fingers to the establishment. They could try taming us and slap all the restrictions they liked around the town, but if we wanted to party, we would fucking party.
I stood to the side and scanned the area. I didn’t know why I was looking for her, but I was. Stupid, really. Why would she come to a thing like this? She’d barely left the house since I’d been back.
I couldn’t deny I felt a twinge of disappointment that she wasn’t here though. In some twisted way, I wanted to share this with her. It was my big moment, and I was pumped and ready for it. Brandon Mathers was back in business.
“Don’t look now, but Lockwood just walked in,” Emily said, coming to stand next to me and nodding to the far end of the building.
“Which one?” I asked, not really giving a shit.
“Both of them.” She raised her eyebrows at me, obviously unsure what my reaction would be.
“They came to see a decent fight. A fair fight.” I shrugged. “That’s something they don’t usually take part in.”
I already had my arsenal fully loaded for when I saw Lockwood. I knew he’d give me a wide berth though. This was my territory he was on, and he was outnumbered, outskilled and outsmarted. He’d never choose to go against me, not in front of everyone. His defeat would be too humiliating. He was saving himself for a time when I’d be alone. Thing was, I was never alone. The demons he’d given me all those years ago followed me everywhere, and retribution was what they fed on. I’d always be ready for him.